France’s Constitutional Council Strikes Down Under-15 Social Media Ban

Summary

• France’s Constitutional Council struck down the core article of the country’s under-15 social media ban
• A central issue was that age verification would in practice affect all users, not only children
• The ruling does not invalidate the entire legislative package and the French government plans a new version
• The EU is already developing privacy-preserving age verification technology and enforcing minor-protection rules under the DSA
• Greece is also advancing an under-15 framework and its related public consultation has been completed

France’s social media ban for children under 15 will not take effect as passed, after the Constitutional Council ruled the law’s central provision unconstitutional.

On August 14, 2026, France’s Conseil constitutionnel struck down the provision that would have prohibited minors under 15 from accessing social networking services. The decision came only weeks after the legislation’s final parliamentary approval on July 21 and before the central restriction was due to start on September 1, 2026.

The significance of the ruling extends beyond France. The question was not simply whether a state may seek to protect children from harmful or addictive features of social media, but whether it may do so through a system that effectively requires age verification for the entire user population without adequate safeguards for privacy and freedom of communication. The same issue is now central to similar policy proposals across Europe, including Greece.

What exactly did the Constitutional Council rule?

The Constitutional Council accepted the legitimacy of protecting minors but found that the means chosen by lawmakers did not provide the safeguards required for proportionality. The ban applied broadly to people under 15 and, in order to work, platforms would need a way of determining the age of anyone attempting to access their services.

That was the crucial constitutional problem. The obligation would not affect children alone but potentially every user, including adults. According to the reasoning behind the decision, the legislation did not define the conditions, limits and safeguards of the verification process with sufficient precision, resulting in a disproportionate interference with freedom of expression and communication while also raising privacy concerns.

The result is a finding of partial unconstitutionality rather than the cancellation of the entire legislative package. However, the provision that was struck down was precisely the article at the heart of the widely discussed under-15 social media ban.

What the French law would have done

The final text agreed by both chambers of the French Parliament prohibited minors under 15 from accessing online social networking services supplied by online platforms. It contained specific exceptions, including online encyclopedias, educational or scientific directories and certain open-source educational software development and sharing services.

The restriction was due to take effect on September 1, 2026. For accounts created before that date, the legislation provided a four-month transition period.

The same legislative package also contained separate education-related measures, including an extension of mobile-phone restrictions to high schools and stronger education about the harmful effects of excessive screen exposure and addictive social-network features.

This is not France’s first attempt to run into trouble

France had already legislated a form of “digital majority” at age 15 in 2023. That framework required parental authorization for children under 15 to register for social media and contemplated technical solutions for verifying age and parental consent.

In practice, however, the earlier system never became operational as originally intended. French parliamentary documents from 2026 noted that it had not effectively entered into force because the necessary implementation framework was not completed, following questions concerning compatibility with European law.

PTTL had already covered France’s subsequent attempt to establish a stricter age threshold. The August 14 ruling now changes the practical outcome: the blanket under-15 restriction will not begin in the form approved by Parliament.

Age verification is the difficult part

For an age-based restriction to work, a platform has to distinguish a 14-year-old from an 18-year-old or a 40-year-old. That turns a measure theoretically aimed only at minors into a technical system that may affect every user.

The European Commission has already developed an EU blueprint for privacy-preserving age verification. Its first version was made available in July 2025, and in April 2026 the Commission announced that the system had reached a feature-ready stage. The principle is that a user can prove, for example, that they are over 18 without disclosing more personal information to the service than necessary. The architecture can also be adapted to other age thresholds.

The French ruling does not mandate any particular technology and does not rule out age verification in the future. It does, however, show that national schemes need much more precise rules governing which information is checked, who can access it, how long it is retained and what alternatives are available to users.

What it means for Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and creators

Adult creators in France will not now face a new universal age-proof requirement on September 1 as a result of the provision that was struck down. Likewise, the general under-15 access ban approved by Parliament will not take effect in its original form.

That does not mean major platforms are returning to an environment without obligations toward minors. The European Commission’s Digital Services Act guidelines already cover issues including grooming, harmful content, cyberbullying, addictive or problematic use patterns and commercial practices capable of harming minors.

Regulatory pressure is also moving toward the design of the services themselves. In July 2026, for example, the European Commission announced preliminary findings that certain TikTok settings for minors may fail to meet DSA safety standards, including issues involving public visibility and the broad recommendation of minors’ content.

For photographers, videographers and creators serving younger audiences, this is the more consequential direction of travel: European regulation is increasingly concerned not only with who may create an account, but also with how content is distributed to minors, how recommendation systems operate and which privacy settings are enabled by default.

Greece is facing a very similar debate

The Greek government announced in April 2026 a plan to prohibit children under 15 from accessing online social media, using reliable and proportionate age-verification methods aligned with the European framework. The same announcement set January 1, 2027 as the intended start date.

The issue has since moved into the legislative process. A draft law placed in public consultation in July included a dedicated section prohibiting minors from using online social-networking platforms, with a provision setting the threshold at 15. The consultation has now been completed.

The French ruling is not legally binding on Greek courts, and the two countries’ constitutional frameworks are not identical. It is nevertheless a clear warning about the questions any such system must resolve: proportionality, privacy protection, precise rules for age verification and limits on the collection of personal information.

Australia shows how difficult enforcement can be

Australia has taken an even stricter approach. Since December 10, 2025, specified major platforms have been required to take reasonable steps to prevent users under 16 from maintaining accounts. The list includes Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X and YouTube.

Australia’s eSafety regulator reported that by mid-December platforms had removed or restricted access to about 4.7 million accounts associated with people under 16. At the same time, regulators continued compliance work and identified concerns with the way some services implemented age checks.

The Australian example shows that a ban can be applied at significant scale, but technical verification, the accuracy of age estimation and consistent compliance across different platforms remain difficult issues.

What happens next in France

Emmanuel Macron is not abandoning the plan. Following the ruling, the Élysée said the president had instructed the government to develop a new and more legally robust version that takes both the Constitutional Council’s reasoning and the European regulatory framework into account. The French presidency has said it wants the reform completed by spring 2027.

The debate in France is therefore not over. A future version will likely need a clearer scope, stronger safeguards around age assurance and a better-supported connection between the risks presented by individual services and the restrictions imposed on users.

What we think

Protecting children from harmful social-media features is a genuine regulatory objective that is already recognized across Europe. The French ruling, however, shows why a simple age cutoff is not enough: if excluding a 14-year-old effectively requires every adult to identify themselves, protecting minors can create a new privacy problem for the entire population. A more sustainable direction appears to be a combination of privacy-preserving age assurance, strong default protections for minors and meaningful limits on recommendation systems and addictive design patterns.

Frequently asked questions

Is there now an under-15 social media ban in France?

Not in the form approved by Parliament in July 2026. The Constitutional Council ruled the central provision establishing the general ban unconstitutional.

Will adults in France now have to prove their age?

Not because of the provision that was struck down. The fact that implementation would have required age verification affecting adults as well as children was one of the central issues considered by the Constitutional Council.

What does the ruling mean for Instagram, TikTok and YouTube?

The specific blanket under-15 ban will not take effect in France. Platforms nevertheless remain subject to DSA requirements for protecting minors and to other applicable European rules.

What is happening with the corresponding plan in Greece?

Greece has advanced a separate framework setting an age threshold of 15. The relevant draft legislation underwent public consultation in summer 2026, which has been completed, while the government had announced January 1, 2027 as its intended implementation date.